Lurene; Brooklyn, NY

Wednesday, October 11, 2006
My former nannies name is **Lurene, I answered an ad on Urban Baby. She called me right away and said she could interview in an hour. She knew all the right answers to my questions and came off personably. I liked her right away. I did a background check which came up with no criminal record. As it turns out, charges have been pressed against her by her boyfriends former wife for harrassement. She took 4 checks from our business account and wrote them out to her boyfriend, Anthony, for a total of 8,000 dollars. She went into our apartment when she knew we were gone and took credit cards. She paid her phone bill with my debit card. We got all our money back because she took it from a business account. Others might not be so lucky.She is not a nanny, but a con artist. I want to warn people not to hire her. At this point, we are waiting to hear back from the Brooklyn DA. Employers, please take heed. Please get your nanny through an agency or have more than 2 references that are willing to tell you more than you want to know. We don't wish this on anyone.
** last name available

(edited 10/15...with additional details provided by the original poster....) Yes, there was indeed a fight on UB about this when I tried to warn other moms. I believe I went about it the wrong way. I was fairly upset at the time... but still, to say most sided with the nanny would be inaccurate. I was hoping I Saw Your Nanny would be a safer route,
as Lurene is still out there.

I thought I had mentioned in my first email that I identifed Lurene at the police station on Thursday, Aug. 3. She admitted to stealing the checks, credit cards, and to using my debit card to pay her phone bill. Case #X (provided to I saw your nanny). We worked with Detective X (provided to I saw your Nanny).

Here is the story in a nutshell:

Lurene worked for us for one month. During that time: She used my debit card to pay her cell phone bill over the phone. She called from our apartment. Her phone number was on the record on my statement. A total of 4 checks: $3000, $2500, $2000 and $1500 were written out to her boyfriend from our business account. We caught the $1500 check on the day we confronted her and that was cashed, but returned. She came back to our apartment while we were out with family and took one of our business credit cards. She went through our computer, found our pin numbers and then withdrew $500 in cash at an atm near our apartment. She also used it at a food store by her house. Additionally, she told the investigating officer, we paid her $3000/week.

The case was brought before the grand jury and that is what we are waiting to hear back about. I have a description for anyone interested. I know people get burned by nannies all the time, but in this case, we robbed in our own home, while this woman was taking care of our children. It's hard to explain in writing all the details that make this case as bizzare as it is. She is an excellent liar. It's not IF, but WHEN she will do this to another family.

With that said, my husband and I are good people who treat others with respect and dignity. We do not like attention and are not the kind of people who would maliciously slander a nanny if things went bad.

My only interest is to warn others because I see people asking how to look for nannies and they are as lost as we were when we started the process. You want to trust people. Also, Im not to give nannies a bad name. We have a wonderful woman now who is part of our family. There are many many good ones out there. Lurene is not one of them.